Even more destabilizing than the invasion of Crimea was Putin’s claim that he had the right to march into “the territory of Ukraine” in defense of Russian citizens. Here’s the entire statement of his request to Russia’s Council of the Federation, which immediately granted him his wishes:

“In connection with the extraordinary situation that has developed in Ukraine and the threat to citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots, the personnel of the military contingent of the Russian Federation Armed Forces deployed on the territory of Ukraine (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) in accordance with international agreement; pursuant to Article 102.1 (d) of the constitution of the Russian Federation, I hereby appeal to the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine until the social and political situation in that country is normalized.” (emphasis added)

The logic at the base of this extraordinary claim, which stands in violation of every international norm, enables Putin to invade not just Ukraine but any state with a Russian population. And since it is up to Putin to define a “threat” to Russians and to determine when the “situation” is “normalized,” he has in effect given himself a carte blanche to send troops to Georgia (where he intervened in 2008 on behalf of South Ossetia and Abkhazia), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan — in other words, into any country of the former Soviet space. Small wonder that Estonian officials have reacted with special alarm. They know their country, with a Russian population that accounts for almost a third of the total population, could easily be next.

The entire world is plainly—and in some cases, painfully—aware that the promises of Western politicians aren’t worth a darn. When there is zero moral leadership anywhere, you can be sure that great bloodshed is not far behind.

…Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of its territorial integrity by the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. By violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Russia has effectively denounced the Budapest Memorandum and its broader message that the nuclear powers will protect states that willfully disarm. As a result, there is no reason that a rogue state with nuclear aspirations should take the threats or assurances of nuclear states seriously.

It’s clear that the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom are nothing more than a bunch of Grubers. The only consistency they evidence is that they are willing to lie to their own people, as well as to the entire world.